The feast was abandoned. No one had an appetite after watching a man eat a priceless artifact of the Empire.
Nyx was escorted back to his quarters, but the atmosphere had shifted palpably. Before, the guards looked at him with curiosity, whispering about his looks or his sudden arrival. Now, they looked at him with terror. They didn't see a handsome amnesiac anymore; they saw a walking black hole that could swallow their souls if he touched them. They pressed their backs against the walls as he passed, knuckles white on their spear shafts.
"Stop shaking," Briar snapped at the two Imperial Guards standing outside Nyx's new suite. Her voice was sharp, cutting through their fear.
"He isn't going to eat you. You don't have enough mana to be a snack."She shooed them away with a dismissive wave and opened the heavy mahogany door, ushering Nyx inside.
The new room was lavish, a stark contrast to the destruction he had caused earlier. It was decorated in deep blues and silvers, Emperor Kael's colors. It had a balcony overlooking the sprawling capital, a massive four-poster bed draped in silk, and a weapon rack that was currently empty.
Nyx walked to the center of the room and collapsed onto the plush velvet sofa. His hand, the one that had devoured the Soul Sphere, was still tingling. It felt hot, pulsating with a strange rhythm, like he was holding a coal that refused to cool down.
"You really know how to make an impression," Briar said, closing the door and locking it with a heavy thud. She leaned against the wood, letting out a long breath. She had ditched her formal dress, changing back into a loose training tunic and trousers that allowed for movement. Her sword Ignis, hung at her hip, the red gem in the pommel glowing faintly.
"It wasn't intentional," Nyx murmured, looking at his palm. The skin looked normal, but he could feel the hunger lurking just beneath the surface. "I just... I felt empty. And the sphere was full."
"So you ate it." Briar walked over, her eyes scanning him with a mix of wariness and fascination. "Do you know how shocked they were? Kael calculates everything. He has a plan for wars, for famine, for dragon attacks. He didn't have a plan for you."
"And your father?" Nyx asked, looking up. "Thorn seemed... amused."
"That man likes chaos," Briar snorted, sitting on the armrest of the sofa, swinging one leg. she spoke with a hidden glint "He thinks you're a weapon he can point at the Elves. But Kael... Kael thinks you're a bomb that might blow up the palace."
Nyx went silent. He looked out the window at the twin moons of Myriad, one silver and one pale violet. "Maybe he's right. I don't know what I am, Briar. I hear chains in my chest. I feel a hunger that food won't fix. What if I lose control again?"
"Then I'll stop you," Briar said simply.
Nyx looked at her. Her black eyes were fierce, lacking the fear that everyone else showed. There was a stubbornness in her jawline that he found grounding.
"You're a Lunar Realm cultivator, you said" Nyx noted. "But I absorbed that sphere in seconds. Do you think you can stop me?"
Briar grinned, a sharp, wolfish expression. She tapped the hilt of her sword. "I'm fast, Nyx. And I don't use pure mana like a wizard. I use fire and steel. If you try to eat the world, I'll just knock you out before you open your mouth."
She stood up and stretched, her joints popping. "I'm taking the first watch. Seraphina is arguing with the Ancestors in the Great Hall, trying to keep Ryze from drinking the royal cellar dry, and Lyra is researching 'Void Theory' in the library. So you're stuck with me."
"You don't have to guard me," Nyx said, though the thought of being alone with the silence in his head was daunting.
"Yes, I do," Briar's expression darkened. "Valerius, the Vampire King, he didn't leave the capital. I saw his bats roosting in the clock tower. He's scared of you. And scared vampires strike first."
Nyx nodded, the exhaustion finally hitting him like a physical blow. The burst of energy from the sphere had faded, leaving him feeling hollowed out again. The First Shackle, the Shackle of the Body, felt slightly looser, but the weight of the other eleven was crushing him.
"Get some sleep," Briar commanded, moving to the balcony door to stand guard. "I'll wake you up if anyone tries to kill you."
"Comforting," Nyx muttered.
He lay down on the bed, fully clothed. He thought he would toss and turn, wondering who he used to be, but the moment his head hit the pillow, the darkness claimed him.
Nyx dreamed of an abyss.
An endless abyss filled with darkness, but he was there kneeling, captured in brilliant golden chains, chains made out of something more than just stars.
"Why.... why did you betray us?" He whispered in a strained manner but the answer he got was chains becoming more tighter around him.
Clang.
The sound of the chain woke him up.
Nyx's eyes snapped open.
The room was pitch black. The magical torches on the walls, which were supposed to burn eternally, had been extinguished.
He sat up, his heart pounding against his ribs. "Briar?"
Silence.
He looked toward the balcony. The doors were open, the curtains fluttering in the night breeze. Briar was gone.
No, Nyx realized, his instincts screaming. She isn't gone...she's still here.
He looked at the floor near the balcony. A faint outline of a person was pinned to the ground by thick, unnatural shadows. Briar was struggling, her mouth covered by a gag of solid darkness, her eyes wide with fury. She was thrashing, but the shadows held her down with the weight of lead.
"Quiet," a voice hissed from the corner of the room. "The Princess is alive. For now. My master only paid for your head."
Nyx swung his legs off the bed and stood up. The air in the room was cold, unnaturally cold.
From the shadows of the wardrobe, a figure peeled itself off the wall. It was a humanoid shape wrapped in bandages of shadow, holding two curved daggers that dripped with a black liquid.
A Shadow Walker, An elite assassin of the Vampire Clan.
"Valerius sent you?," Nyx said, his voice calm despite the lack of a weapon, remebering what Briar said to him before he realised it must be Valerius who sent someone to kill him.
"The King does not like anomalies," the assassin rasped. "You eat mana? Fine. Let us see if you can eat steel."
The assassin moved.
He didn't run; he flickered. One moment he was by the wardrobe, the next he was in front of Nyx, the dagger slashing toward Nyx's throat.
Nyx didn't have the speed of a cultivator. He couldn't track the movement with his eyes.
Slash.
Pain flared in his shoulder. Nyx stumbled back, blood soaking his black tunic. If he hadn't flinched at the last second, his throat would have been opened.
"Slow," the assassin mocked, appearing behind him. "Weak."
Another slash. This time across Nyx's back.
Nyx gritted his teeth, spinning around, swinging a fist. He hit nothing but smoke. The assassin had dissolved into the shadows again, playing with him.
"Is this the God that terrified the continent?" The assassin's voice echoed from everywhere at once. "You are nothing but a bag of meat."
Nyx fell to one knee, clutching his bleeding shoulder. The pain was sharp, real. He was mortal. He was going to die here, in the dark, before he even knew his own name.
Hunger.
The feeling roared in his chest, louder than the pain. It wasn't fear of death; it was anger. Anger that this insect was daring to bite him.
The assassin materialized directly in front of him for the killing blow, raising both daggers high. "Die."
Nyx didn't try to dodge. He didn't try to block.
He looked at the assassin's daggers. They weren't steel. They were solidified Shadow Magic
Nyx dropped his hand from his wound and reached out.
Clang.
The First Shackle didn't just vibrate this time. It rotated.
"Mine," Nyx snarled.
He grabbed the blade of the shadow dagger with his bare hand.
The assassin's eyes widened beneath his bandages. "You... you grabbed a shadow form?"
"I'm not grabbing it," Nyx's golden eyes ignited in the dark, shining like twin suns. "I'm eating it."
Voom.
A miniature Void Rift opened on Nyx's palm.
The assassin screamed. It wasn't a scream of pain; it was a scream of soul-deep horror. The dagger didn't cut Nyx's hand. It liquefied. The black shadow energy was sucked into Nyx's skin like water into a sponge.
But it didn't stop at the dagger.
The suction force latched onto the assassin's arm.
"No! Let go!" The assassin thrashed, slashing with the other dagger, but the Void caught that too.
"More," Nyx whispered, the hunger consuming his rationality. "I need... MORE."
The assassin's physical form began to destabilize. The shadows that made up his cloaking spell, the mana that fueled his speed, even the life force in his veins, it was all being dragged into the abyss inside Nyx.
"Monster!" the assassin shrieked, his body withering, turning into smoke.
"Nyx!"
A shout broke his trance.
The shadows holding Briar vanished as the assassin weakened. She scrambled up, ignited her sword, and kicked the assassin in the chest, sending him flying across the room.
The connection broke. The assassin hit the wall, looking like a dried husk, barely breathing.
Nyx fell forward, catching himself on his hands and knees. He gasped, the rush of stolen energy coursing through him. His shoulder wound was already knitting itself back together, steam rising from the skin.
He looked at his hands. They were trembling.
"Nyx?" Briar stood over him, her sword raised, looking between him and the withered assassin. "Did you... did you just drain him?"
Nyx nodded slowly, wiping sweat from his forehead. "He... he tasted like cold ash."
"Impressive."
A slow clap echoed from the balcony.
Briar spun around, positioning herself between Nyx and the window. "Who's there?"
Sitting on the balcony railing, swinging her legs like a child, was a young girl holding a stuffed rabbit. Her eyes were a deep, blood-red, glowing in the night.
Lilith, the Vampire Ancestor.
"You kids are so loud," Lilith giggled. She hopped down, ignoring Briar's flaming sword completely. She walked over to the dried-up assassin, one of her own descendants' elite killers.
"Valerius is such a worrier," Lilith sighed, poking the assassin with her foot. The body crumbled into dust instantly. "Sending a Shadow Walker to kill a Void Vessel. That's like throwing a steak at a starving wolf."
She looked up at Nyx, her smile widening to reveal fangs that were far too long for her small face.
"You're a fun one, Nyx," Lilith purred. "You have no core. You have no stars. You're just a hole in the world."
She walked closer, until she was standing right in front of him. Briar tried to step in, but she found she couldn't move. Lilith's aura pinned her in place without a sound.
Lilith leaned in and sniffed Nyx's chest, right where the invisible chains were binding him.
"Locks," she whispered, her eyes gleaming with ancient knowledge. "And you just cracked one."
Nyx stared at her, the energy he stole from the assassin boiling in his veins. He didn't feel fear. He felt a challenge.
"Are you here to finish what he started?" Nyx asked.
"Me?" Lilith laughed, a sound like silver bells. "No, silly. If I wanted you dead, you'd be dead before you woke up. I'm just watching. It's been boring for the last thousand years. But you..."
She patted his cheek.
"You're going to make things very interesting."
Lilith turned and walked back to the balcony. "Oh, and tell Seraphina to guard you better. Next time, it won't be a Shadow Walker. The Witches are getting curious. And they don't use daggers."
With a wink, she dissolved into a swarm of bats and vanished into the night.
Briar fell to her knees as the pressure released. She gasped for air, looking at Nyx with wide eyes.
"We need to move you," Briar said, her voice shaking. "We need to tell my father. Now."
Nyx stood up. He felt stronger. Faster. The energy of the assassin had settled in his muscles.
He looked at his hand, then at the moon.
"No," Nyx said. "We don't need to run."
He clenched his fist.
"I just need to eat."